Last updated: September 2025
The Privacy Policy describes the policies and procedures followed by Girls Are Investors UK and its affiliates (“GAIN”, “we”, “our” or “us”) regarding personal data we collect through our website www.gainuk.org (the “Website”), our participating firm registration page, third parties and interactions with you, in connection with our mission to empower and educate the next generation of investment professionals (“Services”). GAIN is the controller of your personal data.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully in order to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. Please note that when using the Website, this Privacy Policy should be read in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions.
Collection of Personal Data. We collect personal data about you from the various sources listed below:
Personal Data You Provide to Us
· Information that you give to us when you contact us – You give us personal data including your name, contact details including physical address, telephone number(s), personal or business email address, and any other information you provide when you contact us using the online contact form, by email, on social media, or otherwise),.
· Information that you give to us when you apply to one of our programmes (including internship opportunities and bursaries) – you give us personal data including your name, the content of the application forms you submit, your social media profiles, and any other personal data that you may provide to us through the application process, such as views and preferences that you disclose to us in your responses to questions, and demonstration of your skills. You may also choose to provide sensitive information in response to our optional diversity questions, such as your racial or ethnic origin and your disability status.
· Information that you give to us when you are accepted into any of our programmes – you may provide additional personal data during your participation on our programmes, including [details of medical conditions, disabilities, allergies, dietary requirements or special needs you choose to tell us about, and any other information or feedback related to your participation].
· Information that you give to us when you support an application (as either a parent, guardian, referee or other individual connected to an applicant) – you give us personal data when you support an application for one of our programmes, including your name and support information you provide through forms or otherwise.
· Information that you give to us when you register to sponsor an intern as a participating firm – as a representative of a participating firm, we collect your name, company, position; contact details (personal, business or educational institution email address, telephone numbers, physical address); and any other personal data that you may provide to us through the application process, such as views and preferences that you disclose to us in the registration form and your responses to questions.
· Information that you give to us when you make a donation – you give us personal data about you when you make a donation to us or any of our programmes, including your name, date of birth, email address, donation preferences and donation amount.
· Information you give us when you participate in and complete any of our surveys or provide testimonials about your experience with us – you give us personal data including your name, contact information, survey responses and the content of your testimonial.
· Information you give us when you register to receive or interact with marketing communications and updates from us (e.g. our newsletters) – you give us personal data, including your name, email address, preferences for receiving our marketing communications and details about your engagement with them.
· Information you give us when you register for or attend events that we organise co-organise or sponsor – you give us personal data including your name, registration details and details of the relevant event. You may also be featured in videos and photographs from these events.
· Information you give us when you register for or take part in competitions, challenges or other public-facing promotional activities that we organise, co-organise or sponsor. You give us personal data including your name, details of your participation (such as any entry or submission), and the results or outcome. You may also be featured in videos and photographs from these activities.
· Information you give us when you choose to fundraise for us or volunteer with us – you give us personal data including your name, the content of any volunteer/fundraising forms you complete and details of your volunteering and fundraising activities.
· Information you give us when you participate in any of our case studies – you give us your name, contact information, [signed media release forms], and any photographs, video footage or write-up you submit or approve.
Automatically Collected Data
We automatically collect basic technical information from all visitors to the Website through our automatic data collection tools, which may include cookies and other commonly used technologies (see section on Cookies below). These tools collect certain standard information that your browser sends to the Website such as your browser type and language, access times, and the address of the site from which you came to the Website. They may also collect information about your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address (from which we can discern the country you are connecting from at the time you visit the Website), or click stream data within our Website (i.e. the actions taken in connection with the website).
Personal Data We Receive from Third Parties
· Information we receive from application support and programme feedback – we may receive personal data about you from third-parties who submit forms or provide feedback to us in connection with our programmes, including from individuals supporting a student’s application (as either a parent, guardian, referee or other individual connected to an applicant) and emergency contact details provided by applicants.
· Information we receive from participating firms you intern with – we may receive feedback on your participation from participant firms. Additionally, if you are a representative of a participant firm, we may collect feedback from applicants regarding their experiences with you.
· Information we receive from event partners or organisers– we may receive personal data about you from event partners or organisers in connection with public-facing events (including challenges) that we organise, co-organise, sponsor or support, where those partners have collected participant data and are authorized to share it with us.
· Information we receive from social media platforms – we maintain pages on social media platforms, such as Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and TikTok. When you visit or interact with our pages on these platforms, or post about us, we receive personal data that you choose to provide to us, such as your contact details and the content of your interaction. The platform providers may also provide us with information and analytics about interactions involving our social media pages. These platforms are separate controllers of your personal data and have their own privacy policies, which apply to your interactions with them and to their collection, use, and processing of your personal data.
· Information we receive from referrals – we receive personal data about you where you have been referred to us by another party, including, as a potential donor, sponsor or as the representative of a company interested in partnering with GAIN.
Use of your Personal Data. We use personal data for the purposes described below or as otherwise described at the time of collection:
· Communicate with you about our Services – it is in our legitimate interest to use personal data to respond to your requests, provide support, communicate with you about our Services, including by sending announcements, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages.
· GAIN programmes – it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data to operate, maintain and deliver the Services. This includes considering applications for any GAIN programme, verifying the information provided in support of an application, and assessing the eligibility of the applicant for the programme. If you are accepted for any of our programme, we use your data to register you and to manage and administer the programme. This may include coordinating with you, organising logistics, providing resources, meeting any reasonable needs you communicate, maintaining communication and sharing your information with participating firms when necessary.
· Sensitive Information – where required by law, necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, or where you have given us your explicit consent, we may process special category personal data (sensitive information). This may include your responses to voluntary diversity questions about your racial or ethnic origin, or information you provide about your health, including any disabilities or access requirements. We use this information to make reasonable adjustments to our application process and programmes, to safeguard your welfare, and to ensure appropriate pastoral care during your participation.
· Direct marketing communications – we may send you direct marketing communications we think may be of interest to you (e.g. our newsletter) as permitted by law, including by email. You can opt out of our marketing communications by clicking the unsubscribe link in communications we send you or by contacting us. We will only send you marketing communications if you consent to receiving these communications or if we are permitted to send these communications under law in our legitimate business interests.
· Events – it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal data to complete and manage your registration and participation in events we organise, co-organise, sponsor or support (including competitions and challenges). This includes sending confirmation of registration, providing updates, and giving you access to attend or take part.
· Event photos and video footage – where you attend any of our events with a photographer in attendance, it is in our legitimate interest to use photographs and video footage which may identify you for our marketing, advertising and research campaigns, including publishing to our Website and social media channels. If you would like to request for a photo or video to be removed, please contact us as set out in the “Contact Us” section below, including details of the event you attended (including the date and venue) and details of the picture or video you want to be removed (including copies where possible).
· Donations – it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data to administer donations made to GAIN or our initiatives, and to process Gift Aid claims where applicable.
· Case studies – we rely on your consent to use your personal data to feature you in our case studies across our marketing, promotional, research and funding campaigns, where you have agreed to participate.
· Surveys and Testimonials – it is in our legitimate interests to conduct surveys and collect feedback, including testimonials you provide to us. This helps us understand and improve our programmes, gather feedback and highlight the impact of our initiatives. Where your responses include special category (sensitive) personal data, such as information about your health or racial or ethnic origin, we will rely on your explicit consent to process that information.
· Sponsor, Supplier and Partner relationships – if you are a sponsor, supplier or partner, or a representative of one, it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal data to communicate with you and to manage our relationship with you or your organisation. This may include verifying your role at a participating firm and checking the firm against publicly available sources. Where we have entered into a contract with you or your organisation, we will also process your personal data as necessary to perform our contractual obligations.
· Improve, monitor, personalise, and protect our Services – it is in our legitimate interest to improve and keep our Website and initiatives safe for our users and participants, which includes: (i) understanding your needs and interests, and personalising your experience with our Website, programmes and other initiatives; (ii) troubleshooting, testing and research to keep our Website and initiatives secure; and (iii) investigating and protecting against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized or illegal activity.
· Research and Development – we may use personal data for research and development purposes in our legitimate business interests, including to analyze and improve the Services and our business. As part of these activities, we may create or use aggregated, de-identified or other anonymized data from personal data we collect. We make personal data into anonymized data by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We may use this anonymized data and disclose it to third parties for our lawful business purposes, including to analyze, improve or add features to our Services, and to promote our business.
· Compliance and protection – we use personal data to comply with our legal obligations, and to defend GAIN against legal claims or disputes where it is in our legitimate business interests to do so, including to: (i) protect our, your or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims); (ii) audit our internal processes for compliance with legal and contractual requirements and internal policies; (iii) enforce the terms and conditions that govern our Website and other initiatives; (iv) prevent, identify, investigate and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft; and (v) comply with applicable laws imposed on us as a charity (including in relation to due-diligence and money laundering regulations concerning screening), lawful requests and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities.
You have a right to object to processing of your personal data where that processing is carried out for our legitimate interest.
Sharing your Personal Data
Service Providers – we share your personal data with selected third parties to provide us with services, technical support, and other wise help us to operate the Services and our charity. These include, for example website analytics, hosting and cloud computing services and other IT services, payroll services, auditing services, consultancy services, regulatory services, legal services, event software providers, background checks, talent management and recruitment services, in addition to other administrative services. All service providers are permitted to use data only for the purpose of performing services on our behalf..
When you apply to the Investment Internship Programme via our candidate portal – we may share your information with participating firms to increase your chances of securing an internship.
Information that you give to us when you register to sponsor an intern as a participating firm– we may share your data with candidates to ensure that we can provide you with a suitable pool of candidates.
Information from Events we organise, sponsor or support – we may share limited personal data with co-hosts of events that we organise or sponsor (such as your name and university or employer) for the purposes of administering the event and providing attendee lists. We may also share your name and email address with booking platforms to fulfil your registration. In connection with challenges and competitions, we may share your personal data with event partners, sponsors, judges or co-organisers as necessary to manage participation, evaluate entries, announce results and award prizes. All such sharing is subject to appropriate safeguards, or your consent where required.
Photo and Video footage. We may share photo and video footage captured in connection with GAIN initiatives with the general public. This includes footage captured from our events or for case study purposes. We may use this footage in internal documents and across all publications and media platforms, including our Website and social media channels, for educational, promotional and fund raising purposes.
Authorities and others – we share your personal data with law enforcement, government authorities and private parties, as we believe in good faith to be necessary or appropriate for the compliance and protection purposes described above.
Business transferees – we may share your personal data with acquirers and other relevant participants in business transactions (or negotiations for such transactions) involving a merger, consolidation, acquisition, reorganization, sale or other disposition of all or any portion of our assets or operations.
Your instruction or permission – we share your personal data with other relevant third parties, where you give us permission to do so in the course of your relationship with us from time to time.
International Transfer. When you are based in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or the UK, personal data collected from you, including via the Website will be stored in the UK only. The UK has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection under data protection laws in the EEA and therefore we do not need to implement any additional safeguards to govern transfers of personal data from the EEA to the UK.
Security. The security of your personal data is important to us. We take reasonable steps, consistent with generally accepted industry standards, including technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect the personal data submitted to us from loss, misuse and unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. However, no method of security or transmission over the Internet is entirely secure. You should always use caution when transmitting personal data over the Internet.
Retention. We may retain the information relating to you as necessary for the provision of the services, internal analytical purposes, or to comply with its legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce agreements (e.g. settlement). The criteria used to determine the retention periods include: (i) how long the personal data is needed to provide the services and operate the business and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means; (ii) the amount, nature and sensitivity of personal data collected; (iii) the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data; and (iv) whether we are subject to a legal, contractual or similar obligation to retain the data (e.g., mandatory data retention laws, government orders to preserve data relevant to an investigation, or data that must be retained for the purposes of litigation or disputes).
Rights of Individuals. By law, you have a number of rights (subject to certain conditions and exceptions) when it comes to your personal data and can exercise any of these rights by contacting us.
· Access – to a copy of the personal data that we have collected about you and information on how we have used your personal data.
· Portability –of your personal data (i.e. to provide personal data in a portable, machine-readable, readily usable format to you or another third party you designate).
· Correction – of personal data that is inaccurate or out of date.
· Deletion – of personal data that we no longer need to provide the Service or for other lawful purposes.
· Objection - to us processing your personal data where we rely on our legitimate business interest to do so (see above) or for any direct marketing purposes (e.g. to send you newsletters or promotional emails, or for targeted online advertising purposes described above).
· Withdraw your consent – to our processing of your personal data at any time where we rely on your consent to process that personal data. This won’t affect anything we have used your personal data for before you withdraw your consent.
· Lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your Personal data with a data protection regulator in the country where you live or work, or where you believe your data protection rights have been violated. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. Phone number: 0303 123 1113. Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Failure to provide the personal data we request. When we need your personal data to comply with legal obligations or to provide the Services to you, failure to provide this data may impact our ability to provide our services. We will tell you what information is necessary at the time of collection or through other appropriate means.
Cookies. Our Website uses “cookies,” which may automatically collect certain information and data. Please see our Cookies Policy for further details.
Generative artificial intelligence (“Generative AI”). Generative artificial intelligence (“Generative AI”) is used by GIRLS ARE INVESTORS UK to analyse applications to our programmes. GIRLS ARE INVESTORS UK inputs a section of an application or response into a Generative AI system to establish the originality of the content and/or detect the use of Generative AI to create the content. While personal data is not intentionally inputted into the Generative AI system, the inadvertent inclusion of personal data may occur.
Revisions to this Privacy Policy. We may revise or supplement this Policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use or share your personal data, we will notify you by updating the date of this Privacy Policy and posting it on our website, or as otherwise required by law. We may also provide notification of changes in another way that we believe is reasonably likely to reach you, such as via e-mail (if we have your contact information) or through any other means required by law. We encourage you to refer to this Policy on an ongoing basis so you understand our current privacy practices.
External Links. The Website may, from time to time, contain links to external sites operated by third parties. We are not responsible for these third party sites or the content of such third party sites. Once you have left the Website, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement for the Website you visit.
Contact Us. If you have any questions or comments about our Privacy Policy, or if you wish to exercise your rights as described above, please feel free to contact us at 85 Great Portland Street, 1st Floor, London, W1W 7LTor on info@gainuk.org